The Sennheiser Memory mic, adding to the new generation of semi-professional equipment that is helping the need for high quality audio in parallel markets that until now, did not have the budgets to achieve ‘great’ results.

Wireless “live” contribution from anywhere at any time, this is the ultimate goal for most news reporters. The old favorite of using ISDN is becoming harder and much more expensive to access easily. Today most of us use wireless daily, in particular Wifi and HSPA/LTE 4G networks. These are now mature technologies and widely used for many applications in the home and whilst out and about. However there are still some professionals who prefer to persevere with the traditional, costly and limited ISDN communication technology before jumping into the wireless era.

When Nigel Woodford started his career at BBC Wood Norton in 1962, television was black and white and BBC Two had not yet been launched. In 2018 Nigel will retire, and Richmond Film Services, the pro-audio equipment rental company set up by Nigel in 1973, can count numerous contributions to iconic moments in British cultural, sporting and film history over this time.

Monitoring SDI video content within an installation is and has always been straight forwards. If you have a monitor, and you can see the image correctly, all is well. This is not necessarily the case for metadata and especially not for audio.

The use of 360 video, especially on platforms like Facebook and YouTube is really starting to take off. Gone are the days when you needed to buy multiple GoPros and rigs in order to get something decent looking. Now players like Insta360 and even GoPro with their fusion 360 camera are providing single camera, high quality solutions, enabling the masses to put out reasonable quality, certainly watchable, 360 video.

In 2012, the Oculus Rift Kickstarter campaign burst onto the scene, initiating a new wave of public interest in sense-enveloping immersive experiences. 5 years later, the consumer reality is mixed with some very public let-downs like Google Glass (which is coincidentally enjoying a re-birth at the time of writing, now as a technical tool in the workplace), and other technologies such as Dolby Atmos® becoming almost commonplace experiences. What does this mean for the audio professional and how is the near future shaping up in 2018?

The world of broadcast audio is about to reach new levels as we embrace the future in terms of Next Generation Audio (NGA). Although at this stage we can't be precise about what this will bring, we do know that some 3D Immersive formats are already under development and will find their way into broadcast production and distribution very soon. Unlike the world of relatively constrained channel based coding that we are accustomed to, these new codec systems will support more channels and/or object based audio coding. For the end consumer, there will be two major benefits - a greater sense of involvement or immersion and a degree of personalisation. That's what the promises are.

It may seem hard to believe, but audio networking has now been with us for over 20 years. In 1996, Peak Audio released CobraNet, the first system that used computer networking of some sort to transport audio.

The transition to "the cloud" in our industry has been challenging. Why is it so important to have cloud technologies? What do customers really expect? The term "cloud" has been used to such an extent that it has diminished the real and actual importance of what's really going on - off-premise compute power.

In a fast-changing world, audio producers need to adapt quickly in order to keep up.
Media consumption is changing - fast. Almost without anyone noticing, we have passed the tipping point. Only a few years ago we were discussing streaming as an emerging technology; yet now, according to a recent Deloitte survey, streaming has overtaken live TV as the preferred viewing method in the U.S. YouTube viewing figures continue to surge.

I used to hate audio. Every time we recorded audio on a location shoot, something seemed to go wrong. It was a nightmare. And because I didn't understand it, I avoided it and would do anything to not be responsible for recording sound. However, eventually it got to a point where I hated how much I hated audio more than I hated audio itself! It became frustrating that I couldn't get it right, and I didn't want to have to avoid it anymore; I wanted to become a master of audio. That may have been slightly ambitious, but still, I was going to try.

Today's audio engineers and editors have to fight various battles, including constantly shrinking production budgets, less time to create the final program content and more tech specs to match than ever. For this compilation, we take a deeper look at the required major indicators common to all the standards.

What's the difference between 2D & 3D audio?
There are two parts to this question when it comes to audio for VR. The key difference is that 2D is a single horizontal slice,so when we're thinking 5.1 or traditional surround sound in a cinema that would be looked at as 2D,whereas 3D adds height information to this both above and below you. The second part to this question relates to static versus dynamic audio,and this goes for both 2D and 3D audio.

Ever since I can remember, I have had a passion and curiosity for sound and sound recording. For the past thirty years, I have had the good fortune of turning that desire into a career as a production sound mixer working on incredible projects, including three of The Twilight Saga films. During my three decades in the industry, I have always prided myself on using the best equipment available, in order to capture the best sound possible. Equipment selection is critical to success, and the game was forever changed when Sound Devices entered the mix.

Audio monitoring has come a long way since its humble beginnings of a box with a speaker, a volume control and an analogue input. Today's high-end audio monitoring units boast an impressive array of I/O such as SDI, MADI, AES-3 and Analogue while offering a large amount of functionality such as accurate metering, loudness measurement, Dolby decoding, metadata analysis and video confidence monitoring. There is however a huge storm brewing in the world of broadcast in the form of video and audio over IP, which will turn everything upside down.

If you're given a media file and it has 16 channels of audio then life can quickly become the opposite of boring, especially if it has to go to air quickly and the supplier is new. Put simply there are many ways in which the different channels can be laid out in the file, but there isn't a single overall standard for labelling them. Enter SMPTE ST 377-4 - the Multi-Channel Audio Labelling specification (MCA). It's really boring and this is a good thing.

We all know that getting the audio right makes the pictures better. Anyone who has seen a movie created for Object Audio like Dolby Atmos will know that there is something special about it. To figure out what that is, let's rewind a little and see why we might need it.

Following the successful introduction of Halo Upmix, NUGEN Audios new upmixing plugin, Creative Director and Co-Founder Jon Schorah reflects on the changing landscape and increasingly complex demands of the modern audio post-production environment.

The world of broadcast audio is on the verge of a major revolution. Numerous 3D Immersive formats are under development and will find their way into the mainstream of broadcast production and distribution in the near future. Unlike the world of relatively constrained channel based coding as we are accustomed to (most commonly Left / Right for Stereo and Left / Centre / Right / Surround Left / Surround Right + LFE or Low Frequency Effects for surround), these new codecs will support more channels and/or object based audio coding. For the end consumer, there will be two major benefits from this new approach, a greater sense of involvement or immersion, and a degree of personalisation.

In the past, audio processing and monitoring required the purchasing of multiple, specialized hardware to support each function in the air chain. But now, thanks to the increase in the speed of Ethernet connectivity, and IT-based processing power, many of these same processes can be condensed and supported over IP. Audio in particular is making a move to the IP realm with the recent AES67 standard bringing interoperability between manufacturers. Even with this standardization, Audio over IP (AoIP) is still not being used to its maximum potential in the broadcast space.

Recording vocals on your microphone sounds like an easy job, but making sure you use the correct techniques and appropriate placement is essential. Today well take a look at some of the industry standard techniques as well as some more weird wonderful recording solutions along the way.

You could argue that, so far, there have been two stages of commercial justification for asset management systems in broadcasting. First, it was a necessary evil: if broadcasters, production companies and other media organizations wanted to store content as filesat least some of the timethey needed a means of finding it again.
Once broadcasters had a comprehensive index to all of their content, and could find clips and programs again quickly, there existed the potential to earn new revenues from them, ushering in the second stage. Video and audio recordings are among the principal business assets of broadcasters and production companies, and making the best use of those assets, by re-using them whenever possible, is simply good commercial sense.

It is an absolutely true statement that the best way to improve the quality of your image is to improve the quality of your sound. Viewers will happily watch grainy, black-and-white images and consider it "art." However, nothing you can say will keep them in their seats if the audio is too loud or unintelligible.

With the ever-increasing amount and variety of programming, devices, screen sizes, quality levels, and delivery methods today, broadcasters and delivery networks must be able to measure the quality of audiovisual content - and their processes for delivering it - to ensure it will meet standards that satisfy audiences, subscribers, advertisers, and regulators.

There was a time when the only way to get a voiceover for your production was by contacting a voiceover agent who would obligingly send over a CD or two full of voiceover sparkle and you and your client would choose one, schlep on down to a studio and pay a small fortune to sit on a swanky sofa and watch said sparkle record your script.

Without microphones, in-ear monitors (IEMs), intercom and distribution systems based on wireless technology, many of today's large-scale television studios, outside broadcast and film productions would be very difficult, if not impossible, to stage. Wireless solutions provide convenience and, in the main, great performance, however as with many technologies careful investment will provide the best results.

Every location has a different set of challenges and you have to deal with whatever sound your environment throws at you as best you can whilst looking after your gear and yourself. Here are 5 non-technical things that make my life on location easier.

Sudden jumps in sound level between television programmes and commercials first came to the notice of legislators after a loud commercial interrupted a family dinner at the home of US House of Representatives member Anna Eshoo. The technical parameters adopted in the draft were based on an existing recommended practice document issued in November 2009 by the US Advanced Television Systems Committee.

Using IP for audio distribution is an enticing prospect for most broadcasters. It offers the prospect of OPEX economies and opens up a lot of new flexibility for infrastructure design: backup and regionalisation solutions are among the many possibilities.

Ever since the new regulations in the UK on radio microphone frequencies were introduced in the UK at the end of 2012, the days were numbered for my trusty old Sony UWP series radio mic system (consisting of the URX-P1 UHF dual-diversity receiver and UTX-B1 transmitter). Whilst super-reliable and excellent quality, this combo is limited to channels 67-69 which the government sold off to expand the frequencies available for mobile phones (cheers!!).

The choice of music is a crucial component to the overall feel of many TV programmes - as important as the grade, the edit, even the script - yet it is often an area where budgets can be scrimped or squeezed

Traditionally, broadcasters and others in the delivery chain must verify compliance manually by simply capturing and archiving content and then reviewing it if a complaint is made. Its a cumbersome, labor-intensive process that is prone to errors.

The BCD Audio black box range includes three units intended for Digital Audio measurement. Primarily intended for use at installation time, they are also useful in checking out the audio side of a TV installation.

Delivering a high quality of service (QoS) is critical in the broadcast world, as it greatly impacts viewer satisfaction and a broadcasters revenue streams. However, the television environment is becoming increasingly more complex, as stations transition to digital and add next-generation OTT or hybrid TV services that require maintaining compliance with industry standards.

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